IT MUST BE SPRING--WE'RE IN PROJECT MODE

Spring is within our range of vision. White Salmon is putting on her Spring colors. Today we did a survey of the front yard and were dismayed to see that we've lost a few rhododendrons and some shrubbery to the destruction of winter weather. The plants have served us well, and we'll find new plants in their honor.

I'm sure you're wondering what on earth I am doing showing a picture of grocery sacks. Believe it or not, they're a tribute to my sister who is leaving for a church mission a week from today. My sister is a pack rat and a gadget girl when it comes to sewing, specifically quilting. She has every gadget ever invented that is designed to make sewing easier. She has a sewing room filled with gidgets and gadgets, books, baskets, and lots of projects in embryo!! Second only to her family, Joan is going to miss this hodge podge world of sewing projects. She's made dozens and dozens of quilts, table runners, pictures for everyone, and typical of most quilters, she doesn't have any of her own creations for herself!! She generously walked me into her sewing sanctuary and said, "Take whatever you want." The result is the bags; I took what I thought I would need. At one point, we were examining a drawer labeled "Miscellaneous." Joan had forgotten the exact use for some of the gadgets, so we had a hearty laugh over the possible uses we could put them to. As I hauled out my full bags of sewing gidgets and gadgets, I was reminded of my mother. For years after we girls were married and had families of our own, Mother always had a pile of "finds" for us to take home each time we came. If Mother found a sale on toothpaste, she bought three--one for each of us. Mother often shopped at the "Big Store" for us. Her long-time boyfriend was the local garbage man, and he brought her his finds!! I will miss my sister! I know that it is important for her to go off and serve the Lord; a senior mission is an experience not to be missed. I will have her presence through emails, facebook, and blogs; it's her physical presence I will miss. No one who isn't a twin understands the bond that exists between twins. Bon Voyage, Joan. Have fun and bring me back an east coast gidget or gadget or two.

My picture is blurry, but you get the gist of the picture--the kitchen cabinets are now empty. Kitchen bling is in the dining room as we start working on some long needed projects--painting, new cabinet doors, new counter. Notice that I filled the kitchen table as full as I could get it. Hmmm....I guess we'll just have to eat out this week...Oh, darn!
I'm exercising in a senior citizens class. I'm the youngest in the class. It's a kick.
Dad took this picture of his squirrels' tenacity in acquiring Dad's delicacies. They've chewed through the hard, hard plastic handles to get more!!
Life right now is busy, fulfilling, and a might exhausting--just the way life should be. Hope it's the same for all of you. Love, Mom

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

OOPS!!

Last night, Darla called to tell me that I owed her $700 in telephone calls. Oops! Darla graciously allows us to be on her cell phone account, and I'd checked with her concerning free long distance calls from Guam. Yes, she had free long distance, etc, etc. So, Dad and I had leisurely phone conversations as I watched geckos scurry along Marie's walls, Joan and I discussed quilts, etc. from the Honolulu Airport; Darla kept me royally entertained with Vale stories during my long layovers....Oops! Now, I have a debt to repay and our long-planned kitchen counter replacement project will have to be postponed.
I've been thinking about the Oopses that sometimes seem to pepper our lives. Although most of them aren't serious, many of our blunders affect our temperament for the day, our pocketbook, perhaps our friendships. Here are a few of my Oopses of late:
In a recent blog post, I stated that Spring had come to the Gorge. Almost every day since that post, it's snowed!! It's a piddling snow, a kind of I-didn't-really-want-to-do-this, but...kind of snow that blankets the earth but isn't serious enough to cause any problems for motorists or serious walkers. Frankly, we need the moisture of the snow, so we aren't faced with a summer of drought as we've had in the past.

Another Oops is the gorgeous poinsettias that filled our house at Christmas time. Vale bought me some Water Globes as a Christmas gift to help with the watering of the plants in the house, but the poinsettias dwindled down and down and and finally gave up the ghost when I abandoned them for the sunny climes of Guam and forgot to fill the globes. I should have taken them with me!!

In the same blog in which I mentioned springtime in the Gorge, I included a picture of the Gorge. Dad pointed out to me that the picture I posted is actually the view from Grandma Kennedy's house in Bremerton! Oops! If you look closely at the picture of Grandma and me on that blog, you'll see the same view out the window. So here are some pictures of the real Gorge in all its springtime brown-ness!!

I'm still working on Ethan's quilt. Quilting is, at its worst, a tedious business. Ethan's quilt is called a pieced quilt, in which hundreds of pieces, large and small, are sewn together to make the whole. Ethan's quilt is composed of hundreds of rectangles. The rectangles are 4.5" x 2.5." Once I sew the rectangles together, I have to "square up" the rows. I'm not sure my picture's clear enough, but, hopefully, you can see that I got a little carried away with my "squaring up!" Another Oops!

I have plenty of fabric, so I can replace these shortened rectangles and go on, but in the era of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, fabric was very dear and hard to acquire, so such an Oops could have spelled disaster for a quilter. Most quilters call such mistakes as these--creative opportunities and find a way to re-design the quilt to hide the goof and go on!

When these Oopses stop me for brief times, I am reminded of my father's favorite saying: the AA motto called the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It is an imperative in one's life not to allow the Oopses to be blown up out of proportion and to become the means of paralyzing or ruining one's perspective.

Taking out some Oops stitches, Love, Mom

I've learned.. That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it. Andy Rooney

LIFE'S STUFF

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." — Gordon B. Hinckley

This has been a few weeks of just the normal, every day "stuff" of life. The delays, sidetracks, beautiful vistas of every day life. Hence, the title of my blog.


Grandma, who's heard various relatives talking about their blogs and facebook/youtube accounts, is introduced to the internet. Her conclusion: "I wasn't meant to live in this century!"
Spring is coming slowly to the Gorge. To me, the month of February is sort of the ugly duckling phase of life here. However, the days now are wonderful. After stewing inside for a few weeks due to a cold and the bad weather, Dad is in heaven--outside with his rocks, roses, and birds.

The Gorge is experiencing the same economic decline as the rest of the nation. A few months ago, the Columbia Gorge Hotel closed its doors, declaring bankruptcy and waffling out on paying their employees. The saddest sight is that the beautifully manicured grounds are already deteriorating!

We are still teaching our Institute class. This is the smallest group we've had all quarter. The two on the right are mother and daughter, and the young man is a security guard from Goldendale.

Grandma is hanging in there. As the cane in the background attests, she is having trouble moving around. Remember that she is quite confined to her little apartment. She would love a phone call, a card, a picture!!

Michelle says that this picture makes her want to throw up! I couldn't agree more!! The pilot of this Coast Guard boat is Steve!!

Dad and I have been attending some of the senior citizen luncheons to give our friend, Andre, some moral support. We're some of the youngest senior citizens there, and Dad is often asked to dance, so it's a kick for me to watch him squirm his way out of such invitations. The lady at the mike is singing a beautiful love song to her sweetheart on their 50th anniversary!

The little guys are Wyatt and Kahlil with their Grandma Niehoff. Tom tells me that the boys like costumes; hence, Kahlil's snowboarder googles and outfit and Wyatt's hockey jersey. In order to "play" being a snowboarder, Kahlil must don this full regalia and Wyatt does the same. Interestingly enough, I had a conversation about Kobe's need to don his Indiana Jones hat and whip in order to play Indiana Jones. Oh, does that bring back memories of their fathers doing exactly the same thing.

Life's "stuff" is what gives us subject matter for blogs, stories to share with others, inner comfort on a rainy day, and reminds us that President Hinckley is right--we must be thankful for the ride. I am! What a rich and wonderful life we have. Hope you're letting the "stuff" of your life give you pleasure and HOPE. Love, Mom

Mark Twain said, "There is never yet an uninteresting life. such a thing is an impossibility. Inside the dullest exterior, there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy."